Medici
2 of the 7 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Medici. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a distinguished Italian family of Florence, whose historical fame begins in 1351 with GIOVANNI DE MEDICI, who with a small body of 100 his way through a Milanese men forced forced army which was besieging the fortress medical chemistry, pathology, bacteri- of Scarperia and relieved the place. His son, SALVESTRO, who enjoyed the rank of gonfaloniere from 1378 to his banishment in 1381. GIOVANNI, his son and successor, distinguished for his commercial enterprise, and for promoting the interests of the republic, flourished 1360- 1428. Cosmo, one of the sons of the latter, surnamed "Father of his Country," born in 1389. He early took part in the important commercial concerns of his father, and also in the government of the republic. In 1433, Rinaldo de Albizzi, head of a party opposed to the Medici, obtained the chief magistracy, and Cosmo was banished for 10 years. He settled at Venice, and there founded the library in the monastery of St. George. After one year he was recalled, and his life was thenceforth peaceful and prosperous. As chief magistrate magistrate Cosmo acted with consummate prudence. His influence on the political movements of Italy was immense. He once saved Florence from a war with Naples and Venice by calling in debts from these two States, and so incapacitating them from making war. In his latter years he applied himself to study, especially of the Platonic philosophy, and to farming. He died Aug. 1, 1464. PIERO I., his son and successor; born 1414, became the victim of a revolt in 1469. LORENZO, usually styled The Magnificent; born Jan. Jan. 1, 1449, 49, and the son of Piero, was carefully educated, and early initiated in state affairs. At the age of 20 he married Clarice, a noble lady of the Orsini family, and the same year, 1469, succeeded his father as head of the Florentine republic. His will was supreme and almost unquestioned, and a general license and corruption of morals made it easy for him to be tyrant. Literature, philosophy, and art engaged the attention of Lorenzo no less than political affairs. The quiet of his reign was interrupted, in 1478, by the conspiracy of the Pazzi, to which Pope Sixtus IV. was a party, and which had for its object the overthrow of the Medici. The conspirators attacked Lorenzo and his brother Giuliano in the Duomo, when the latter was killed and Lorenzo narrowly escaped. The chiefs and many of the associates of the conspiracy were executed. The Pope then excommunicated Lorenzo, allied himself with the King of Naples, and declared war against Florence. Lorenzo, with happy boldness, went as his own ambassador to Naples, and succeeded in detaching the king from the papal alliance; fear of the the Turks induced the Pope soon after to make peace. In the spring of 1492 he fell ill and retired to his villa at Careggi. He died in Careggi April 8, 1492. Lorenzo was author of numerous lyrical and other short poems, many of them of a licentious character, and some devotional. He had three sons: GIOVANNI, who became Pope as LEO X. (q. v.), GIULIANO, and PIERO. The latter, Piero II., born Feb. 15, 1471, succeeded Lorenzo, and was deprived of his estates when the French invaded Italy in 1494. He was drowned Dec. 28, 1503, leaving two sons, Lorenzo and Cosmo. GIULIANO, GIULIANO, brother and successor of Piero, abdicated in favor of Lorenzo, 1513, and became Duc de Nemours by his marriage with the aunt of Francis I. He died March 17, 1516. LORENZO II., eldest son of Piero II., came to power by the abdication of his uncle, and governed under the influ ence of Leo X., who invested him with the duchy of Urbino. He died May 4, 1519, leaving an only daughter. CATHERINE DE MEDICI; born in Florence in 1519. She married the Duke of Orleans, who became Henry II. of France, and her children were Francis II., Charles IX., Henry III., and Marguerite of Valois. Catherine de Medici was Queen Regent of France from 1560 to 1563. She died in Blois, Jan. 5, 1589. ALESSAN- DRO, proclaimed duke of Florence in 1532, was stabbed by his relative Lorenzino, after poisoning his cousin Hippolytus, 1537. LORENZINO, murderer of Alessandro, was assassinated at Venice by order of Cosmo I., 1548. CosMO I., called "The Great," Duke of Florence, and Grand Duke of Tuscany, was the son of Giovanni, the "Invincible," descended from Lorenzo, and was born June 11, 1519. He was raised to power by the influence of Charles V., and abdicated in favor of his son, 1564. In 1569 he became Grand Duke of Tuscany, and died April 21, 1574. FRANCESCO MARIA, son and successor of Cosmo (1541-1587), and left only a daughter, MARIE DE MEDICI, born in Florence, April 26, 1573. She became queen consort of Henry IV. of France. She died in Cologne July 3, 1642. FERDI- NANDO I., brother broth and successor of Francesco, was also cardinal and Grand-Duke of Tuscany, 1551-1609. Cosmo II., son and successor of Ferdinando I., 1590- 1621. FERDINANDO II., son and successor of Cosmo II., 1610-1670. COSMO III., son and successor of Ferdinando II., 1642- 1723. GIOVANNI GASTON, son and successor of the latter, was the last of the Medici who reigned over Tuscany, being compelled to abdicate and make way for Francis II., Duke of Lorraine, by the great Powers. He flourished 1671-1737. His daughter, ANNA, wife of John William, elector-palatine, elector-palatine, was the last of the family. She died in 1743.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
med'e-che, a noted Italian family. The Medici family ruled Florence for generations. Popes Leo X and Clement VII were Medici. The fame of Florence as a center of art and literature was achieved under the patronage, chiefly, of the Medici. The most noted man of the family was probably Lorenzo, known as the Magnificent. The most noted woman was Catharine de Medici, known in history as the queen mother of France. The prevailing characteristics of the family appear to have been ability, artistic proclivities, and lack of conscience. The last of the family died in 1743. See Florence ; Machiavelli ; Catharine